Mostar
In southern Bosnia lies the historic town of Mostar, best known for an arch bridge over the Neretva River, destroyed during the Civil War in 1993 and rebuilt in 2004. In the western part of the city lies a cemetery and memorial for more than 800 partisans who died during the Second World War. Parts of Bosnia came after the occupation in April 1941 to belong to the independent state of Croatia (NDH) under the leadership of the fascist dictator, Ante Pavelic, and his Ustasha movement. Tito’s partisans carried out attacks throughout the war against the German and Croatian (Ustasha) presence in occupied Yugoslavia and in particular Bosnia. In May 1942, three local Ustasha leaders were murdered by partisans. Retaliation from Ustasha did not wait, and hundreds of civilians were publicly executed in the city. Mostar was liberated by Tito’s partisans in mid-February 1945. A sad consequence of the liberation was that the partisans, driven by revenge, murdered civilians suspected of collaboration with the Germans or Ustasha.
Current status: Partly preserved/demolished (2026).
Location: 43°20'28.41" N, 17°47'46.44" E
Get there: Bil.
Follow up in books: Pavlowitch, Steven: Hitler’s New Disorder: The Second World War in Yugoslavia (2008).
The cemetery and monument was built in 1965 on a hill overlooking Mostar. Each fallen partisan had its own tombstone and there were regular ceremonies held during the Yugoslav era, especially during Tito’s life until his death in 1980. When the Yugoslav civil war broke out in the early nineties, the cemetery was destroyed and is today dilapidated and vandalized but can be visited.